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THE 

)BOOK OF THE BANTAMS, 




A BRIEF TREATISE 

UPON THE 

SEVERAL VARIETIES. ( 



A 



By H. H. "STODDARD, 

EDITOR OF "the POULTRY WORLD," " THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD," AND " THE 

CO-OPERATIVE POULTRY POST." AUTHOR OF ''aN EGG FARM," "POULTRY DISEASES," 

"poultry ARCHITECTURE." "LIGHT BRAHMAS," " WHITE LEGHORNS," 

"brown LEGHORNS," "PLYMOUTH ROCKS," " WYANDOTTES," 

I "the BOOK OF THE GAMES," "DOMESTIC WATER FOWL," 

I "incubation; NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL," " HOW TO FEED FOWLS," " HOW TO WIN 
POULTRY PRIZES," " HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS," "hOW TO RAISE PIGEONS," ETC. 
PUBLISHER OF "hOW TO RAISE POULTRY ON A LARGE SCALE," 
' "a POULTRY COMPENDIUM," ETC. 



HARTFORD, CONN 
i886. 



THE 

BOOK OF THE BANTAMS, 

A BRIEF TREATISE 



UPON THE 



Mating, Rearing and Management 



OF THE 



DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF BANTAMS. 



y 

By H. H. STODDARD, 

KDITOR OF "the POULTRY WORLD," "THE AMERICAN POULTRY YARD," AND " THE 

CO-OPERATIVE POULTRY POST." AUTHOR OF "aN EGG FARM," "POULTRY DISEASES," 

"poultry ARCHITECTURE," " LIGHT BRAHMAS," " WHITE LEGHORNS," 

"brown LEGHORNS," "PLYMOUTH ROCKS," " WYANDOTTES," 

"the BOOKOFTHK GAMES," "DOMESTIC WATER FOWL," 

'incubation; natural and artificial," "how TO FEED FOWLS," " HOW TO WIN 

POULTRY PRIZES," " HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS," "hOW TO RAISE PIGEONS," ETC. 

PUBLISHER OF "hOW TO RAISE POULTRY ON A LARGE SCALE," 

"a POULTRY COMPENDIUM," ETC. 




HARTFORD, CONN 

1886. 






Copyright, iSS6, by II. H. Stoddard, Hartford, Con:' 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS, 



INTRODUCTORY. 

" The god of love 's a little wight, 
And beautiful as thought, 
And thou art little, nice and light, 
And everything — in short," 

DEAN SWIFT, in that remarkable satire, Gulliver's 
Travels, tells of a country where the inhabitants 
were but midgets of men, among whom an ordinary man 
appeared as a veritable Goliath, We have looked for 
Liliput upon the map, but our geographies fail to locate 
it. Wherever it be, it may be considered the home of 
the Bantams, for such little people as the Liliputians 
would have required a fowl like the Bantams for their 
daily use. They are indeed the Liliputians of the gal- 
linaceous family. 

English monarchs used to have about them, as a 
necessary part of their court, one or more dwarfs, selected 
on account of their diminutive size and comical airs. 
These dwarfs were the recipients of many favors from 
all classes of people, who were greatly interested in and 
entertained by them. This practice has died out, but 
the feeling which it voiced, a love for little beings, still 



6 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

lives in the hearts of mankind. Diminutives are often 
used as terms of endearment, and not a few large, strap- 
ping, robust women rejoice in the appellation, " wifey," or 
little wife. This feeling is transferred to fowls, and in 
an inverse proportion to their size they seem to be en- 
deared to their owners. Because of it, the Bantams are 
the chosen pets, not only of ladies and children, but of 
men. 

They are especially suitable for pets. Their small 
size enables them to be kept anywhere. Not only the 
farmer, who looks over his boundless acres, the country 
gentleman who enjoys his green fields, the villager with 
his half acre, but the city resident, with his forty-foot 
front and narrow back yard, may keep Bantams. In 
densely populated districts the deep-voiced crow of a 
Brahma cock may become a nuisance. " Man shall arise 
at the voice of the bird," but he doesn't wish always to 
arise with the Brahma. Cocks have an inconvenient 
habit of crowing in the middle of the night, and there 
is something startling in the tremendous sound of a 
Brahma's voice as he wakes the midnight echoes with 
reverberant sound. But "the slender oaten pipe" of the 
Bantam may sound and the sleepers not be disturbed. 

Again, the littleness of the Bantams enables them to 
be handled well nigh with the ease of a pigeon. This 
counts for much in the long run, in the pleasure to be 
derived from poultry keeping. One does not care to 
caress a twelve pound fowl, but a twelve ounce Bantam 
seems just made for this purpose. They are dainty and 
neat and light. They can rest on the outstretched hand 
without causing weariness, but it would require the mus- 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 7 

cles of a trained athlete to hold out a Brahma in this 
position. 

They are full of activity and pert and consequential 
airs. . No fowls, in this respect, can compare with them. 
They remind one by their sense of importance of the 
story told respecting a farmer and a young dandy. A 
number of people had been ascertaining their weights 
upon a pair of Fairbanks' scales, when a young dandy, 
in "skin close pantaloons" and tight boots, pompously 
asked an old farmer, " Well, sir, what do you think 1 
- would weigh ?" 

"Waal," said the farmer, "if you were as big as you 
feel, I should think you mought weigh about a ton." 

A Bantam is the incarnation of strut. He is proud, 
and he is as brave as he is proud. He is always ready 
to show off his fine points or to attack any larger fowl 
that may intrude upon his domains, Mr. Dixon humor- 
ously attributes the passionate temper of * the Bantams to 
a too liberal diet of pepper-corns which they pick up on 
their native island of Java ; their extreme arrogance to 
the feeding upon an herb called bang ; and their pro- 
pensity to make every rival turn tail to the etiquette of 
court which obliges all subjects to turn their back upon 
their sovereigns whenever they pass by. 

Bantam breeding possesses the interest which is com- 
mon to the breeding of any fowl ; the study of biology, 
experiments in coloring, the growth from the egg to the 
matured specimen, help to account for this interest. In 
England, it is said, that the fascination of Bantam breed- 
ing has been so strong, especially among Game Bantams, 
as to materially reduce the number of Game breeders 



8 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

and the interest in the larger fowl. Just as much skill 
is necessary to produce a prize winner in the Bantam as 
in other classes. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE BANTAM. 

Whether Bantams existed as original breeds or were 
bred from larger varieties is to a certain extent an open 
question. We know that some Bantams have been bred 
down from larger varieties, but we do not know and 
cannot know that this is true of all varieties. For the 
Bantam has a very respectable antiquity of its own. 
Aldrovandus who wrote three hundred years ago was 
acquainted with them. Buffon knew them and described 
one variety as having a strong resemblance to the coq 
paitu of France, ^'having feet covered with feathers on 
the outside, forming a sort of boot to the very claws." 
He distinguishes between two English varieties, " a large 
booted sort, and a dwarf of golden plumage and having 
a double comb." 

Mr. Doyle, in "The Illustrated Book of Poultry," 
remarks that " The Bantam species has much resemblance 
to the wild cock {Gallus Bankiva), but the position of 
the tail differs, being horizontal and vaulted in the latter, 
while in the former it is more upright, and forms two 
vertical planes. The feathers which fall from the neck 
over the top of the back, are long in the cock, and 
with divided barbs ; the end of each feather widening a 
little and becoming rounded," 

*' Temminck considers that the Turkish cock, which is 
allied to the Bantam, belongs likewise to the Bankiva 
species ; and this naturalist considers the Bantam and the 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 9 

Turkish together, b)' reason of the strong analogy be- 
tween themselves, and with the Bankiva. They resemble 
each other in smallness of size, in the form of the tail, 
and may, according to our present authority, be consid- 
ered, perhaps, as the result of a breed, less crossed, 
more directly proceeding from the Gallus Bankiva. The 
chief difference is found in the feathering (more or less 
long) with which the tarsus and toes are covered ; and 
this difference is not a specific difference, but the effect 
of domestication. The races whose tarsi and toes are 
so heavily feathered, owe, according to our naturalist, 
this peculiarity to the superabundance of nutriment, which 
produces those feathers on their lower extremities, as, in 
the instance of the crested fowls, it produces tufts on 
the head." 

Lewis Wright, on the other hand, asserts that " There 
is not the slightest reason for supposing that any of the 
diminutive fowls known as Bantams are descended from 
an original wild stock. They are in many cases the 
exact counterparts of ordinary domestic breeds, carefully 
dwarfed and perfected by the art of man ; and even 
where this is not so, the process by which they were 
produced is occasionally on record." 

The fact that they are " exact counterparts of ordinary 
domestic breeds " does not necessarily prove that they 
descended from these breeds, for one might with equal 
propriety affirm, because of this resemblance, that the 
larger breeds descended from them. The argument that 
Bantams constantly tend to increase in size would not 
necessarily prove that they were made small by art, for 
it might lend color to the view that the lars;er breeds 



lO THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

Sprang from the Bantams. The larger breeds also tend 
to grow smaller, so that from these positions no conclu- 
sion can be safely arrived at. 

The Sebright Bantam was made, it is true, but it was 
made from another Bantam ; so, too, was the Polish Ban- 
tam made, and in like manner from another Bantam. 
Still there can be little doubt that large fowls may be 
Bantamized, and Bantams greatly increased in size. 
"Where doctors disagree," etc., — the reader can make his 
own application. This, however, we may say, that the 
Game Bantam, "the little coxcombical, impudent, and 
vain puppy, who holds up his head, and struts in his 
gait, and carries his inwardly curved tail so high that 
we might expect to see him elevated from the ground, 
which he almost disdains to tread, and blown away by a 
blast of wind," is very likely descended from the Gallus 
Bankiva, a very similarly looking bird, with very fine 
drooping sickle-feathers, the change in these to an up- 
right position being the chief alteration which has been 
wrought in his appearance. We need not stagger at 
this, for there is very good reason for believing that all 
our domestic fowls descended from this same wild species, 
and between the Gallus Bankiva and the Bantam there 
is less difference decidedly than exists between many of 
the varieties of fowls in our yards to-day, all of which 
are fertile when bred together and all of which under- 
stand the spoken language of the others. 

THE BANTAMS OF " AULD LANG SYNE." 

Among the varieties of Bantams once popular, but 
which have dropped by the wayside in the march of 
time, we may enumerate : 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. II 

The Yellow or Nankin Bantam. 

The Spangled Bantam. 

The Partridge Bantam. 

The Silk Bantam. 

The Jumper or Creeper Bantam. 
The Yellow or Nankin Bantam has a special interest, 
beyond what would attach to itself, for the reason that 
it was the foundation upon which were built the beautiful 
Sebrights. Its name does not indicate its origin, for it 
is not assumed that the Bantam came from Nankin. It 
is not improbable that the color may have given it its 
name. The cotton manufactured in China or India is 
of ginger-yellow color, and the name of the goods has 
been corrupted into Nankeen. 

" The cock has variegated and very showy plumage, 
in which orange and scarlet, with deep chestnut on the 
back and wings, are apparent ; the tail-feathers black ; 
hackles slightly purplish ; breast black, with some of the 
feathers edged with white ; comb either double or single, 
— a few prefer the latter, but neither disqualifies these 
fowls for competition as show birds. 

*' The hen ; — plumage principally ginger-yellow ; hackles 
dark ; comb small ; legs of a lead-blue." 

Such is the description given thirty years ago to a 
fowl then well known. 

The Spangled Bantams, once popular, have entirely dis- 
appeared. It is probable that they originated in crosses 
with the Silver laced and other varieties, as lacings very 
easily become spangles, to the frequent sorrow of the 
breeder of laced fowls. The legs were booted, the 
breast spangled, and probably, so far as can be gleaned 



12 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

from old poultry books, they somewhat resembled in plum^ 
age a Silver Spangled Hamburg. Were they not so old 
a breed one might infer that they were produced by a 
cross of the Silver Spangled Hamburg upon the Booted 
White Bantam. Such a cross might produce a variety 
which would make good whatever loss has been sustained 
by their disappearance. 

The Partridge Bantam on the other hand bore z, 
striking resemblance to the Golden Hamburgs. They 
had a rose comb, blue legs and Hamburg plumage. 
When young the chicks closely resembled young partridges, 
and it is said that the hens were employed for hatching 
and rearing partridges. From which fact they obtained 
their title we do not attempt to pronounce definitely, but 
probably from their resemblance to young partridges. 
Dixon says of them, " They are Hamburgs among the 
Bantams ; just as many birds of one continent are found 
represented in another by corresponding though quite 
distinct species of the same genus." 

The Silk Banta?n was pure white in color with single 
comb and booted legs, and with a soft silky plumage, 
like the fowls known to our Standard of Excellence as 
Silkies. They were very beautiful and very rare. They 
were probably allied to the Silkies in their origin. 

The Jurjiper or Creeper Banta?n is described by Buffon 
as follows : " Their legs are so short that their wings 
trail on the ground. They are very like the dwarf fowl 
of Brittany, which perhaps is reared there on account of its 
fecundity. It has always a jumping gait ; in general form 
these fowls are in body about the size of ordinary fowls, 
and are only dwarfish in the legs, which are very short." 



14 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

Whether Buffon means that the Bantam, or the dwarf 
fowl of Brittany, or both, had a body *' about the size of 
ordinary fowls," does not clearly appear. If he means the 
Bantam had such a body it would be erroneous to include 
what all of the older readers will at once recognize as 
the Creeper fowls, once quite common in the poultry 
yards of farmers, among the list of .Bantams. They were 
popular for a time, as it was supposed that their short 
duck-like legs would prevent them from scratching, but 
as, after a time, they demonstrated their ability in this 
direction and proved that a hen, no matter what the 
length of her leg, was "a scratching animal," their pop- 
ularity declined in favor of a longer legged and more 
graceful fowl. 

THE BANTAMS OF TO-DAY. 

The American Standard of Excellence recognizes nine 
classes of Bantams : 

1. The Game. 

2. The Golden Sebright. 

3. The Silver Sebright. 

4. The Rose-comb Black or African. 

5. The Rose-comb White. 

6. The Booted White. 

7. The Japanese. 

8. The Pekin or Cochin. 

9. The White-crested White Polish. 

The class of Game Bantams is sub-divided into seven 
classes : 

1. Black-breasted Red. 

2. Brown Red. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. I5 

3. Red Pile. 

4. Silver Duckwing. 

5. Yellow Duckwing. 

6. Black. 

7. White. 

This gives us a total of fifteen varieties of recognized 
Bantams, to which we may add the Cuckoo, and a new- 
comer, the Rumpless Bantam, making a total of seventeen. 

GAME BANTAMS. 

The Black-breasted Red Game Bantam has the same 
characteristics as the larger fowl bearing the same name. 

The cock has a light red hackle and saddle, a deeper 
red back, a glossy black breast, wings with a wide black 
bar across them, and a black tail. 

The hen has a brownish yellow hackle, striped with 
black, back in color light brown penciled with black, 
breast of a light salmon hue, and a dark brown nearly 
black tail. 

The standard weights for all Game Bantams are : 
Cock, 22 oz. Hen, 20 oz. 

Cockerel, 20 oz. Pullet, 18 oz. 

The disqualifying weights are : 

Cocks over 28 oz. Hens over 24 oz. 

Cockerels over 24 oz. Pullets over 22 oz. 

For breeding stock select birds as small as convenient, 
as there is a tendency in all varieties of Bantams to in- 
crease in size, and the margin is small between the 
standard and the disqualifying weights, 

Matings of standard birds of each sex will produce a 



l6 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

fair percentage of standard chicks, but the following 
special matings can be recommended : 

A cock with orange-red hackle and saddle feathers ; 
back and shoulder-coverts violet-red, with a tinge of orange ; 
breast black with a steel-blue shade ; tail glossy black 
with a purplish shade in the secondary: sickles. This we 
may call Breeding Cock A. 

A cock with a brick-red hackle and saddle ; back and 
shoulder-coverts red with slight violet tinge ; breast and 
tail black. There is less variety in the plumage of this 
bird than in that of the preceding. We may denominate 
him Breeding Cock B. 

The breeding hen should be as follows : 

Head and neck golden colored, striped distinctly with 
black ; body of a partridge color, this color extending 
even to the upper feathers of the tail ; breast salmon-red, 
from the throat down, shading slightly to an ashy hue on 
the thighs ; the flight feathers of the wings without pen- 
ciling. We will call this Breeding Hen A. 

Hen with yellow hackle striped with black ; back and sad- 
dle of a partridge color with a slight creamy tinge ; wings 
with a ruddy blush, but not too pronounced ; breast 
salmon-red, shading off to an ashy color about the thighs. 
It will be noticed that this hen is lighter throughout and 
has more yellow coloring in her plumage. We may name 
this Breeding Hen B. 

Hen with a light golden hackle but slightly striped 
with black ; back and wings of a light partridge color, 
more yellow appearing throughout than in the previously 
described birds ; breast of a yellowish ashy color ; tail 
black. This we will call Breeding Hen C. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 



17 



The mating of Breeding Cock A with Breeding Hen 
A will give beautiful j^ullets and some fine cockerels. 

The mating of Breeding Cock A with Breeding Hen 
B will give splendid cockerels, but the pullets will be 
light. 

The mating of Breeding Cock B with Breeding Hen 
A will produce fine pullets of a rich deep color. 

The mating of Breeding Cock B with Breeding Hen 
C will give some fine cockerels. 

There is still another mating which is deemed very- 
desirable for the production of beautiful cockerels, that is 
the mating of Breeding Cock B to a Weedon or Wheaten 
hen. This hen has a buff breast ; back partridge color 
marked with a ruddy buff hue ; hackle buff striped with 
black ; and tail with a buff tinge to the black feathers. 
The name Weedon, it is said, was given because hens of 
this color were abundant in the neighborhood of Weedon ; 
and Wheaten because of the fancied resemblance of the 
plumage to the outside envelope of red wheat. 

In selecting breeding stock of all varieties of Game 
Bantams, there should be had a special reference to the 
peculiar shape and style of the Game fowl, for no matter 
how good the color the stock will be inferior and unsatis- 
factory unless the distinctive symmetry is obtained. The 
beak should be strong, especially at the base, and slightly 
curved ; the head long, thin and tapering, and well set 
on at its junction with the neck ; the eyes should be 
large and prominent, of a bright red color, and of a 
bold and fearless expression ; the neck should be long 
and nicely arched, and the hackle short and close ; the 
back ought to be rather short, quite flat, and wide at 



l8 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

the shoulders, narrowing to the tail ; the breast should be 
broad and full ; the body cylindrical, with no hollowing 
at the sides, firm and muscular to the touch, and taper- 
ing to the tail ; the wings ought to be of medium length, 
slightly raised at the shoulders ; the tail carried not very 
high, and of medium length ; the shanks rather long, 
well rounded, and strong. The carriage of the bird 
should be bold and upright, impressing you with his height 
and yet not looking stilty. In a good Game one sees a 
rather slender, but a strong and powerful-looking bird, 
that seems ready to dare and to die if necessary. Every 
movement is indicative of courage and strength, " a foe- 
man worthy of your steel." This characteristic should 
appear in every well-bred Game Bantam, despite his 
diminutive size. 

In studying the characteristic symmetry of the Game 
fowl and of the Game Bantam, as also the details of 
plumage and markings, great help may be obtained from 
the Standard of Excellence, issued by the American 
Poultry Association. We can give in the limits of this 
book only a general description of the several varieties, 
and must for details refer the reader to the Standard. 

The Brown Red Ga?ne Bantam cock has a dark red 
head, with a purplish colored face ; eyes of a dark brown 
or black color ; hackle red, shading off to lemon, finely 
striped with black ; dark crimson back ; saddle like the 
hackle ; breast black, the shafts and margins of the feath- 
ers being a ruddy brown, growing darker as it approaches 
the thighs ; wing-bows dark crimson, wing-butts black or 
dusky brown, wing-coverts glossy black ; tail black ; 
shanks olive, dark willow, or bronzy black. 






a.*i'. Wis. 'i|',,\]„ 




20 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

The hen has a dark brown head ; neck of a bright 
lemon or golden hue, striped with black ; dark brown 
back ; breast black in color ; wings very dark brown or 
black ; and a black tail. 

The Brown Red Game Bantam is difficult to breed. 
But few of the chicks are really what are desired. The 
difficulty of breeding to feather has rendered this beauti- 
ful variety less popular than their Black-breasted Red 
cousins. 

Certain special matings are recommended by Game 
fanciers, as more likely to produce standard birds than 
mating together those fowls which are described by the 
Standard. 

From the mating of a Starling-breasted cock, /. (?., a 
cock with orange-red hackle with a darker shade in the 
center of each feather, dark crimson shoulders, breast 
dark with a bay stripe in the center of each feather, 
thighs streaked with bay, and a black tail, with a stand- 
ard hen, some cockerels like their sire will be bred, 
some with solid black breasts and dark hackles, and some 
nearly black with a smutty dark red on shoulders and 
back. Some of the pullets will be like the dam, some 
nearly brown, and some nearly black with a coppery 
tinge upon the neck. 

The mating of a cock with a pure orange hackle, 
maroon bark, breast black with each feather slightly laced 
around the edges with light bay, with hens of brilliant 
black color and golden hackles striped with black, will 
produce some very handsome chicks. 

A cock like the one last described, but more crimson 
on the shoulder, and less orange in the hackle, mated 



22 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

with a pure black bodied hen, will produce some fine 
starling-breasted cockerels, a few dark pullets, but the 
majority of the pullets will be of a light brown color, 
and prettily penciled. 

The Brown Red Game Bantam shows darker blood 
than the Black-breasted Red in both the color of the 
face, the plumage of the hen, and the red that appears 
upon the cock. Perfect specimens are quite rare, owing 
to the difficulty of producing them, but when obtained are 
an ample reward for the labor and skill bestowed upon 
their production. The Brown Red is when at all ap- 
proaching perfection a very beautiful bird, of varied plum- 
age and rich hues. Their beauty gives them a fair 
degree of popularity despite the difficulty in breeding 
them to feather. 

The Red Pile Gavie Bantam cock has a deep chestnut 
red head, hackle and saddle ; a crimson back ; a white 
breast slightly laced with chestnut ; wings with a wide 
crimson bar ; white tail ; and shanks that are yellow, 
willow or white. The eyes are red. 

The hen has a brownish-red head ; a white hackle, 
laced with gold ; white back ; dark salmon breast ; white 
wings, tinged with chestnut ; and a white tail. 

The Piles breed quite true to color, which added to 
their beauty, brings them not a few admirers. An occa- 
sional cross with the Black-breasted Red is resorted to 
to give hardness of feather. Fine Piles are also produced 
by mating a Weedon Black-breasted Red hen with a 
White or with a Pile cock. 

The Silver Diukwi?ig Game Banta7?i is an exquisite 
bird. There is a vividness in the contrasting colors, 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 2$ 

and an iridescence to the wing-bars, which heighten the 
beauty of the cock, and a softness to the harmonious 
colors of the hen which pleases the eye and gratifies the 
taste. 

The cock has a silvery white head, hackle, back and 
saddle ; a solid black breast ; silvery white wing-bows, 
black wing-butts, and steel blue wing-coverts forming a 
broad bar across the wing. The eyes are red and the 
shanks are willow, olive, bronze or blue. 

The hen has a silver gray head ; silver gray hackle 
striped with black ; ashy gray back ; light salmon breast ; 
ashy gray wings ; and dark gray, nearly black, tail. 

A fair percentage of good birds, and especially pul- 
lets, may be obtained by mating together standard birds, 
but the best colored cockerels are produced by mating 
a Silver Duckwing hen to a bright Black-breasted Red 
cock. Good pullets may be obtained from breeding a 
Silver Duckwing cock to a standard Black-breasted Red 
hen. 

T/ie Yelloiv Duckwing Game Bantam cock closely 
resembles the Silver, except that the hackle is of a 
light yellow or straw color, the saddle the same, and 
the back of a bright copper or golden color. The wing- 
bars are either like those of the Silver or are a glossy 
black. 

The hen is darker than her Silver sister. The sil- 
very hue becomes an ashy gray, or slaty gray, and the 
light salmon of the breast becomes a dark salmon. She 
is still beautiful — the one perhaps a blonde, the other 
hardly dark enough to be designated as a brunette. 

The best colored cockerels are produced, as in the 



24 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

case of the Silvers, by a crossing in with the Black- 
breasted Red. 

The Black and the White Game Bantams have the 
distinctive characteristics of the Game, but are, as their 
name implies, solid colored birds ; the one a solid black, 
the other a pure white. In selecting breeding stock great 
care should be exercised to choose only those birds 
which have a rich plumage — in blacks full of iridescent 
hues, in whites having a shining whiteness, with no ad- 
mixture of feathers of a different color. The problem of 
mating solid colored fowls is a comparatively easy one, 
and its solution may be given in a very few words. 
Mate together only standard birds, and the very best 
you have ; and yet, easy as it is, many fail to produce 
those lustrous blacks or shining whites which win in the 
exhibition room, from a failure to select the deepest, 
purest, brightest, and most iridescent colored birds for 
their breeding stock. Of course in other matters, style, 
symmetry, and so forth, it is just as difficult to produce 
good blacks or whites as it is to produce good parti- 
colored specinaens ; and so there is room for the exercise 
of skill and judgment in the mating of solid colored 
fowls, and the problem ceases to be so simple and easy 
as it at first appeared to be. The plumage difficulties 
vanish, but plumage is but one of many points requiring 
careful consideration. 

THE SEBRIGHT BANTAM. 

For the production of the Sebright Bantam the world 
is indebted to the late Sir John Sebright, M. P. for 
Herts. It has been said that he obtained the foundation 



26 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

blood of this variety of Bantam from India, and it is 
also believed that he used the Yellow or Nankin Bantam 
for this purpose. The latter is the more probable theory 
and rests upon the better evidence. The Polish fowl 
was crossed with this Bantam, which gave to the off- 
spring a plumage with a spangled character, but succeed- 
ing crosses resulted in the present laced feathering. By 
frequent inbreeding the size was reduced, and by rigid 
selection the crest was removed. Finally the hen- tail 
was engrafted upon the breed by the crossing in of a 
cock possessing that characteristic. It required years of 
patient skill to produce the Sebright Bantam, and a man 
of less fixity of purpose than Sir John Sebright would 
probably have retired, baffled and disgusted from the 
field. Says Mr. Baily, " None but those who understand 
the process can imagine the difficulties of producing the 
Sebright Bantams ; they were the result of years, and can 
only now be kept up by frequent changes of blood ;. 
if this be neglected, and the same stock is bred year 
after year, the lacings first disappear, next the colors 
come in patches, at last you get single combs, sickle- 
feathers, and ugly yellow and black birds." 

The carriage of the Sebright cock is thus described 
by Mr. Lewis Wright, an eminent authority upon poultry- 
subjects: "Carriage of the cock, the most conceited it is 
possible to conceive of ; head thrown back till it touches 
the nearly upright tail ; wings drooping half way down 
the legs ; motions restless and lively, always strutting 
about as if seeking for antagonists. The bird is, in fact, 
'game to the backbone,' and will attack the largest fowl 
with the utmost impudence." 



28 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

Mr. Martin Doyle, the author of "The Illustrated 
Book of Poultry," describes the carriage of the variety 
in these words : " No class of Bantams is more vain and 
impudent than this laced Bantam. Both sexes — but more 
especially the male — seem conscious of their really capti- 
vating appearance, and as if they prided themselves on 
weighing but fifteen or sixteen ounces, and would not 
eat anything that might be found to give grossness to 
their tiny and graceful forms, of which the breast pro- 
trudes in a truly impudent manner." 

The ear-lobes, of both the Silver and Golden variety, 
are required to be white, a requirement next to impossi- 
ble to be complied with without -losing something of their 
exquisite lacings. Mr. Hewitt, an English gentleman who 
is entitled to speak with authority upon this subject, says : 
" In the Sebright laced Bantams, I have yet to see a 
specimen in which the ear-lobe is perfectly white ; all 
that I have yet had were blushed, and many were per- 
fectly red in the ear-lobe. I should prefer the white, 
"but it is not to be generally, if ever, obtained. I have 
also invariably noticed that any unusual whiteness of the 
ear-lobe is accompanied by a sad falling-off in the lacing, 
and therefore, if attainable, only at so great a cost, it 
must not be insisted on. Whether the ear-lobe is white, 
or possesses the blue tinge, either form would place the 
bird above those of its competitors, who, equal in other 
points, manifested the decided red stain, which, it must 
be remembered, is widely removed from the ' blushed ' 
appearance above alluded to." 

The Standard of Excellence requires every feather to 
be laced with black around its edge. The shoulder and 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 29 

tail-coverts are likely to be faulty in this respect. The 
primary quills of the wings are usually only tipped with 
black. The tail-feathers of the cock also are rarely 
laced, but if nicely tipped with black will pass muster 
even in pretty close competition. 

The cock should be perfectly hen-feathered. Not 
only should the tail be free from curving sickle-feathers, 
but the feathering upon the neck and saddle should be 

like the hen. 

The Golden Sebright has a plumage of a rich golden 
hue each feather being laced with black. The Silver 
Sebright is of a silvery white similarly laced. The white 
is generally of a creamy color, and often approaches 
yellow but the clearer the white, the more beautiful and 
valuable the specimen. In both varieties the comb is 
rose with a well-developed spike, and the shanks are 
blue While the cock should be perfectly hen-feathered 
for exhibition purposes, such cocks are sometimes sterile, 
and a mild approach to sickle-feathering is looked upon 
as a sign of greater procreative powers. Such cocks are 
valuable for breeding purposes. We are aware that some 
perfect hen-tailed cocks are used for breeding, and that 
some of the eggs hatch, but in no variety of fowls is 
there a greater complaint because of infertile eggs. We 
are acquainted with one conscientious breeder who re- 
fused to sell any Sebright eggs for this very reason. 
The e<^gs would not hatch a fair percentage of chicks. 

Mr" Hewitt, as quoted by Mr. Lewis Wright,^ re- 
marks with respect to the breeding of Sebrights, that 
although at three years old the birds become more or 
less grizzled with white, and therefore greatly deteriorated 



30 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

for exhibition, the stock then produced from them is 
frequently far superior ; and, strange as the fact may 
seem, that better marked birds are usually obtained by 
mating a heavily-laced cock with a hen scarcely suf- 
ficiently marked, than when both parents are perfect in 
their plumage." 

In conclusion we may add that the Sebright Bantam 
enjoys a distinction afforded to no other variety, in hav- 
ing had societies formed for the purpose of exhibiting 
this single breed, its rare beauty having awakened the 
enthusiasm necessary to sustain such associations. This 
is a great honor for any fowl to have attained. In this 
it stands without a rival. 

The standard weights for Sebright Bantams are : 
Cock, 26 oz. Hen, 24 oz. 

Cockerel, 24 oz. Pullet, 22 oz. 

The disqualifying weights are : 

Cocks over 28 oz. Hens over 24 oz. 

Cockerels over 24 oz. Pullets over 22 oz. 

From this it appears that there is a margin of only 
two ounces on cocks and none on cockerels, hens and 
pullets. The object is, of course, to keep down the 
size, the rule being that, other things being equal, the 
smaller the Bantam, the better the bird. The Sebrights 
tend to increase in size as much or more than any 
other variety, and it requires a constant watchfulness to 
keep them within the disqualifying weights. It is said 
that the Silver variety requires even more care to do 
this than the Golden. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 3I 

THE ROSE-COMB BLACK OR AFRICAN BANTAM. 

The Standard and disqualifying weights for this va- 
riety are the same as for the Sebrights. They are a 
beautiful and justly popular variety. The cock has a 
plumage of glossy black full of iridescent hues of green 
or purple, the former being the preferable shade and the 
one demanded by our Standard. The comb is rose, 
with a well-developed spike inclining slightly upwards. 
The ear-lobes are white and, unlike the Sebrights, 
are easily obtained. The shanks are clean and of a 
black or dark leaden-blue color. The tail is well-devel- 
oped and furnished with sickle-feathers. 

The hen resembles her mate with the exception of 
having a less lustrous plumage, although the best speci- 
mens are not greatly inferior to the males even in this 
respect. ''They are reported," says Mr. Doyle, "to be 
domestic and quiet, good layers, good sitters, but not 
very careful mothers ; their eggs are long, oval, and 
tinged with buff; of these they will lay — as do most of 
the varieties — great numbers in the course of the year, 
a circumstance highly in favor of the breed generally, 
in confined situations, where larger fowls would suffer 
from want of space and free range. Their size is so 
diminutive that they have been compared, when first 
born, to the queen of the black bumble-bees, and as 
having legs apparently more designed for an insect than 
for a chicken." 

They have an indomitable courage and do not hesi- 
tate to boldly attack larger birds. They seem never will- 
ing to give up, as they will call none master so long as 
life exists. They resemble the Game in this respect. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 33 

Mr. Dixon relates the following anecdote concerning their 
pugnacious disposition. 

" There were two cockerels in this brood ; they were 
little things, beautifully shaped, but ridiculously diminu- 
tive. These two little imps spent the greater part of 
their time in fighting, which only made us laugh, judging 
serious injury impossible ; but shortly observing one un- 
usually triumphant, (for it had always been a sort of 
drawn game between them), and the other walking about 
in an odd and uncertain manner, though firm and fear- 
less, I found that this latter had both its eyes closed, 
from wounds received the day before. I carried it to 
my dressing room, to relieve it by sponging, and set it 
on the stair-cloth while I went to fetch some warm 
water. Still blind, it began crowing vivaciously ; in a 
few minutes its eyes were unsealed and it was returned 
to the yard; but battle after battle was immediately 
fought, and we were obliged to eat one of the com- 
batants to prevent the mutilation of both." 

Occasional sports with feathered legs have been thrown 
by this variety, from which a booted variety might be 
bred, and might prove a success with the public, although 
not a few would probably prefer the clean-legged Ban- 
tam. 

The Rose-comb White Bantam resembles in style the 
Rose-comb Black, but is clad in a plumage of spotless 
white, has red ear-lobes and white or yellow shanks. 
There is a tendency in this variety, especially if bred 
with yellow legs, as in nearly every other variety of 
white fowls, to show a yellow tinge upon the hackle and 
saddle of the cocks. The yellow pigment which gives 



THE BOOK OF' THE BANTAMS, 35 

color to the beak and legs, usually makes itself appar- 
ent also in the skin and plumage. For this reason, we 
should advocate for those who wish pure white cocks, 
there being no economical considerations entering into 
the problem as is the case in the larger varieties, to 
breed from birds possessing white beaks and legs. Such 
birds will show a larger percentage of chicks free from 
the objectionable yellow tinge. Our markets require a 
yellow-skinned bird, and although Bantams may be very 
delicious morsels and well fitted to titillate the palate of 
an epicure, our markets don't call loudly for Bantam 
poultry. Bantam breeders have listened attentively, but 
so far as heard from none have reported a brisk de- 
mand for this class of poultry. So the considerations 
which might influence a breeder to look with favor even 
upon the yellow tinge of a Leghorn or Brahma cock's 
plumage have no weight with the breeder of Bantams. 
He wants the pure white plumage, and makes no sacri- 
fice in getting it by breeding from white-legged birds. 

The White Bantam is of a quieter disposition than 
his Black cousin. While the latter bears the blood-red 
banner of conflict, the former offers the olive branch of 
peace. And yet he is not entirely destitute of courage. 
The matter of precedence is settled, by battle if need 
be, and then mild peace resumes its genial sway. Bred 
in perfection this variety is very beautiful, and a desirable 
addition to the household pets. 

The Booted White Bantam, unlike the preceding va- 
riety, has a single comb of medium size. The shanks 
are heavily feathered upon the outsides, and the outer 
toes to their ends. The hocks are furnished with long 



36 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

Stiff feathers which almost touch the ground. The wings 
are ample with slightly drooping points, and the upright 
tail full, well expanded, and well furnished with long 
curving sickle-feathers. The ear-lobes are of a bright 
red color. 

They are interesting birds, and being so heavily 
feathered upon the shanks and toes, do little harm in 
the garden by scratching. They are well fitted to be the 
gardener's assistant, and if allowed to range will destroy 
an immense number of insects injurious to vegetation. 

In breeding them care should be taken to select birds 
of a pure white plumage throughout and heavily feathered 
upon the shanks and outer toes, and especially well fur- 
nished with vulture hocks. The same objection applies 
to them as to all pure white birds, the cocks have a 
tendency to become yellow, and the plumage of both 
sexes is liable to become soiled. Too much stress, how- 
ever, is apt to be laid upon the latter objection, as we 
find little difficulty in keeping white birds, even in close 
confinement, in presentable condition. A fowl is a cleanly 
creature and if the premises are kept in a condition to 
insure health the birds will look fresh and clean. If 
they get soiled, the dust bath quickly removes the stain. 
It is astonishing that dirt should surpass all the chemical 
preparations for the laundry, in removing dirt upon a 
fowl. Into it they go, fill their feathers full, give a 
sudden flirt, and lo ! they look as if they had just 
stepped out of their dressing-room and were ready to 
make a call or receive company. The admirer of white 
fowls need not be deterred from keeping them because 
they are said to get soiled easily. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 37 

THE JAPANESE BANTAM. 

For this variety we are indebted to that remarkable 
people who inhabit the kingdom known as Japan, a 
people who, isolated from the civilization of Christian 
nations for centuries, have within a few years made 
wonderful progress in all humanizing arts and sciences, 
established schools, sent out the flower of their youth 
to be educated in the most enlightened nations and to 
return with their acquirements to aid in raising their 
native land to a higher plane. Japan presents a won- 
derful and encouraging spectacle to the world, almost an 
enlightened nation " born in a day " from a semi-civilized 
people. 

The Japanese are distinguished for many cunning 
devices and peculiar forms of art, and it is not sur- 
prising that their poultry should exhibit their peculiar 
characteristics. Where else would one naturally look for 
the Yokohama or Long Tailed fowl, or where for a 
Bantam, with short yellow legs, high single comb, erect 
carriage, upright tail coming in contact with the head, 
the sickle-feathers of which are nearly straight, and 
black in color with a narrow edging of white ? The 
plumage of the Japanese Bantam is pure white with the 
exception of the tail which is black and the sickle-feathers 
as we have described. The hen is like the cock in 
color, white, with a black tail, carried in a very upright 
position. 

Japanese Bantams of a Dominique or Cuckoo color 
are also shown, but such are not recognized by our 
Standard. 

These birds are comparatively rare and bring good 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 39 

prices, ten to twenty-five dollars a pair not being uncom- 
mon. They, like all the Bantams, are amusing pets, filled, 
as they apparently are, with enough self-esteem to leaven 
thoroughly a much larger body. 

THE PEKIN OR COCHIN BANTAM. 

The original progenitors of this remarkable breed of 
Bantams were stolen from the Summer Palace at Pekin, 
during the Chinese war. They were first exhibited in 
1863. In appearance they are diminutive Buff Cochins, 
possessing the solid figures, the buff plumage, the heavy 
leg-feathering, the dome-like saddle, of their larger pro- 
totypes. 

The cock has a single comb of medium size, red ear- 
lobes, deep buff or orange plumage, and dark chestnut 
or black tail. 

The hen is of a lighter buff color than the cock. 

Starting as they did from a single stock, much in- 
breeding has been necessitated, which, as a natural con- 
sequence, has resulted in not a little sterility and con- 
stitutional weakness. This has been remedied to a 
considerable extent by crossing with other feather-legged 
Bantams, the offspring of which have been bred back to 
the original strain. Of late years there have been impor- 
tations from China by which the introduction of fresh 
and pure blood has become possible. 

The Pekin Bantam is quite liable to be too dark in 
the leg, a fault which may have arisen from the intro- 
duction of foreign blood. They should have a pure 

yellow leg. 

They seem to possess the mild disposition of the 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 41 

Cochins and make the tamest of pets. Altogether they 
may be regarded as a great acquisition to the poultry 
yard. 

In mating them for breeding, care should be exer- 
cised in order to produce the best colored specimens. 
The following matings may be recommended : 

A cock of an orange color with chestnut tail and 
wings to hens of a clear buff color of medium shade. 

A cock of medium shade, having some black in tail 
and wings, to hens that are standard birds in color. 
The pullets will be fine. 

A very dark cock with nearly or quite black tail to 
pale buff hens. 

From the first mating the average of the chicks will 
be higher for both cockerels and pullets than from either 
of the others. This we regard as the best mating. 

The last mating is recommended to utilize those birds 
which otherwise might be rejected as unfit for breeding 
purposes. From this mating some excellent chicks will 
be produced, but for breeding purposes we should prefer 
chicks bred from the first or second mating. 

THE WHITE-CRESTED WHITE POLISH BANTAM. 

As its name would indicate, the plumage of this breed 
of Bantams is white throughout, for both male and fe- 
male. 

The crest of the cock is very large, abundant and 
flowing, and is composed of feathers similar to those 
forming the hackle. It should rise in front sufficiently 
not to obstruct the sight, and should fall to each side 
and the rear evenly and regularly. 



42 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

The comb is single, and the smaller the better. 

The neck is neatly arched and of medium length. 

The breast, as in all the Polish class, is round and 
prominent. 

The large wings are folded neatly against the sides of 
the body. 

The tail is large, carried in an upright manner, and 
has an abundance of curved sickle-feathers and tail- 
coverts. 

The shanks are rather short and of a white color. 

The hen is a fit mate to her master. Her crest is 
globular, and large and well filled in, so as to present 
a close and even surface, and stands more erectly upon 
the head than that of the cock. She possesses the 
characteristic symmetry and style of the Polish class, and 
is a neat and jaunty little body full of innocent co- 
quetry and demure airs. 

The White Polish Bantam is one of the most recent 
productions of poultry art. Like the Sebright Bantam, it 
is a made breed. It is a purely American production, 
just as the Sebright is an English production. 

The following letter, by a well-known breeder of this 
variety, addressed to that enthusiastic fancier and volumi- 
nous, elegant and accurate writer on poultry, H. S. Bab- 
cock, Esq., will be read with interest by all who admire 
this beautiful Bantam. We give it in full : 

"Glens Falls, N. Y., December 3, 1885. 
H. S. Babcock, Esq., Providence, R. I.: 

Dear Sir : — In reply to yours I would say, as in all 
other new breeds, there are some secrets and guess-work 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 



43 



concerning the origin of the Polish Bantams, but I will 
freely give you all the information I can, and I assure 
you that I have left no stone unturned in my attempts 
to obtain the fullest details. 

They originated about the year 1872, or 1873, by an 
accidental cross of a White Polish cock with a common 
speckled Bantam hen in the yards of one Isaac Mur- 
dock, of Agawam, Mass., since deceased, who bred them 
for four or five seasons before his death. At his death, 
a blacksmith, named George Newton, of Springfield, Mass., 
bought the entire stock, and I purchased the first birds 
he ever offered for sale through the advertising columns 
of the poultry journals. They, at that time, very often 
bred chicks with colored feathers. I have taken great 
pains in breeding them since they came into my pos- 
session, until they now breed true in respect to plumage, 
with crests at least one-half larger than those bred upon 
the original birds. Since the establishment of the firm 
of which I am a member, we have bought Mr. Newton^s 
entire stock. 

They were admitted to the Standard in 1879 or 1880, 
through the influence of a warm personal friend of Mr. 
Murdock, but I never have been able to ascertain this 
friend's name. I have been informed that none of the 
birds were exhibited at the time of their admission to 
the Standard^ and I was credited with exhibiting the 
first pair ever publicly shown in the year 1881. 

They are fair layers and model mothers. After four 
weeks of age they are as hardy as any Bantams, but like 
all the Polish class they cannot stand damp quarters, 
and should be kept housed when the cold fall rains be- 



44 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

gin. With such treatment they may be called hardy, 
but if these precautions are neglected they suffer in 
consequence. 

They are very easy to breed as to size, as they rarely 
attain what we term overweight, and in other respects are 
as easy to breed as any of the Polish family. Crests 
and symmetry are the chief points to be regarded and 
consequently they should be mated in the same manner 
as the large White-crested White Polish fowls to produce 
the best results. 

Truly yours, 

F. B. ZiMMER." 

This letter, being so full of details, renders it super- 
fluous for us to say anything further upon the breed, 
beyond remarking that the mating of standard birds is 
the very best mating that can be made, and that from 
this mating a good percentage of fine chicks will be 
obtained. 

These little beauties are still comparatively rare 
and bring good prices, a fact which will doubtless 
cause them, to be bred more extensively in the near 
future. Like all the Polish class, their large crests, while 
being a great ornament, cause them to require more care, 
for if exposed to cold rains these crests get soaked with 
water, which may induce colds, catarrhs, and roup. In 
other respects they require no more and no greater care 
than other varieties of Bantams. 

THE CUCKOO BANTAM. 

There are, so far as we know, but one pair of this 
variety of Bantams in the United States, and they were 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 45 

imported this season (1885). The Cuckoo Bantam, how- 
ever, is a popular variety in England, and is there known 
also as the Scotch Grey Bantam from its close resem- 
blance to that variety. 

They have white legs, single combs, and are of a 
Cuckoo or Dominique color. 

There is also another variety of Cuckoo Bantams with 
rose combs, produced probably by a cross between the 
Black and the White Rose-comb varieties. The Cuckoo 
or Dominique color is often produced by a cross of the 
black and white, as was the case in the Plymouth Rock. 

THE PERSIAN OR RUMPLESS BANTAM. 

At the Rhode Island State Fair in 1885 Mr. William 
H. Bateman, of East Greenwich, R. I., exhibited two 
pairs of Rumpless Bantams. In appearance they resem- 
bled the Rumpless fowls, but one pair had the ground 
color of the Golden Sebright, with some black markings, 
suggesting the possibility of their origin being found in 
a cross between a Rumpless fowl and a Golden Sebright 
Bantam. Those exhibited appeared to be a trifle larger 
than a Sebright Bantam. In order to ascertain the par- 
ticulars of their origin we wrote Mr. Bateman and 
received a reply from which we are enabled to make the 
following statements. 

About twenty-five years ago, a New York bird fancier, 
who was on the lookout for rare fowls for Mr. Bate- 
man, wrote him that he had three pairs of Rumpless 
Bantams, very rare and odd birds in appearance, which 
he had received direct from Persia. They were thought 
to be the only Bantams of this variety in America. Mr. 



46 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

Bateman went on to New York and returned with the 
birds, -which consisted of one pair of milk white, one 
pair of speckled, having a variety of colors intermixed, 
and one pair of dusky orange or brown. 

These Bantams as bred by Mr. Bateman, by crossing 
from one pair to another, have proved very hardy. 
Three winters ago out of forty-one chickens, of the same 
age, forty of which were of the common or dunghill 
variety, and one a Rumpless Bantam, during a very 
cold snap the Bantam was the only one that sur- 
vived. 

The prevailing colors at present are a mixed speckled 
to dark, the white variety having become extinct. 

The hens are average layers, good sitters and excel- 
lent mothers. 

The eggs are slightly darker than those laid by the 
common Bantam. 

The chicks when first hatched resemble those of the 
Black-breasted Red Game Bantam, except being of a 
slightly lighter color. They are rather wild in disposi- 
tion, and if allowed to roam are somewhat difficult to 
raise, but if their roving propensities are restrained they 
are not more difficult to rear than other varieties of 
Bantams. 

The color of the legs is immaterial, each of the three 
pairs received by Mr. Bateman having differently colored 
legs. The combs are both rose and single, no especial 
care having been taken to breed them to one fixed type. 
The ear-lobes are small and of a bright red color, al- 
though in some specimens there is a slight tinge of 
white to the ear-lobes. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 47 

OTHER VARIETIES. 

Among the new varieties of Bantams which are ap- 
pearing and claiming a portion of the public interest, we 
notice that there were shown in England last season 
some very good specimens of Andalusians, some Malays, 
and a pen of Black Cochins. Frizzled Bantams with a 
Cuckoo plumage were also exhibited, and a pair of 
Sultans that were very nearly Bantams. 

Attempts are also making to produce Cochin Bantams 
of all the prevailing colors, Polish Bantams with the plum- 
age of the several classes of this variety, and White-faced 
Black Spanish. It is not altogether improbable that in 
the course of a few years there may be a Bantam for 
all, or nearly all, the varieties of domestic fowls. With 
the present varieties to work from, and with the knowl- 
edge that ages of experience in dwarfing fowls have given, 
by judicious crossing and rigid selection, the results aimed 
at may be accomplished. Whether it is desirable to do 
this is a question foreign to our purpose. Certainly all 
Bantams are interesting and some of the new varieties 
will probably prove popular. But some will be more 
popular than others, and the producer of new varieties of 
Bantams will find it of interest to study the matter care- 
fully and to determine beforehand what varieties are 
likely to prove the most desirable. The one who can 
forecast the future is the one who will reap the greatest 
reward for his labors in this field. The Polish, the 
Cochins and the Spanish, ought to prove popular as 
Bantams, especially the first named, and, although the 
task may be difficult, we need not be surprised to learn 
that it has been accomplished. 



48 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

BREEDING BANTAMS. 

The breeder of large varieties is ever striving to 
keep his stock up to standard weights, and to exceed 
them if possible. His chicks must be got out early in 
order to have time to mature, and must be generously- 
fed to induce rapid growth. But the breeder of Bantams 
has an entirely different object in view. With him it is 
not how large, but how small the fowl shall be. To 
decrease rather than to increase size is his object. A 
few ounces of overweight disqualifies his bird, no matter 
how perfect it may be in other respects. How shall he 
accomplish his purpose ? 

ist. By selecting the smallest specimens, always pro- 
viding they are standard birds in other respects, for his 
breeding stock. From diminutive specimens he will be 
more likely to obtain small chicks. 

2d. By hatching them late in the season, July and 
August, and even September and October, being favorable 
months. Late hatched chicks have less time to grow 
than those of earlier broods, and the cold weather of 
winter serves to retard the growth of the half matured 
specimens and permanently dwarf them. 

3d. By feeding them sparingly. It will not do to 
starve them, but just enough food should be given them 
to keep them in health and to enable them to grow 
slowly. 

These are simple but imperative rules for Bantam 
breeding. They cannot be neglected and great success 
obtained. In the observance of them there is great re- 
ward, for when the exhibition season arrives the finest 
specimens, resplendent in plumage, and graceful in shape, 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 49 

will not be disqualified by the unfeeling judgment of the 
scales. The blue ribbon may flutter from their coop, while 
the owner's less fortunate and unwise neighbor may find his 
early-hatched well-fed birds, otherwise equal, disbarred 
from competition by that extra ounce of flesh, and may- 
exclaim : 

"Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 

Thaw and resolve itself into an everlasting dew."^ 



THE YOUNG CHICK. 

The Bantam chicks, whether balls of snowy down, or 
jet black or striped like a chipmunk, are interesting 
objects. Their tiny forms and pert ways make them a 
universal object of admiration. Little children ache to 
get their hands upon them, ladies become an animated ex- 
clamation, with their ohs ! and ahs ! and how lovelys ! and 
sober men unbend from their customary gravity to watch 
the movements of the little creatures. There is nothing 
like a Bantam chick to smooth out the wrinkles of care 
and imprint a smile upon weary faces. 

The little chicks are, when first hatched, rather tender 
and require the best of care. A cold storm may quench 
their feeble flame of life as easily as the wind blows out 
a candle. But they soon develop into hardy birds capa- 
ble of withstanding cold and storm and able to bid defi- 
ance to disease. 

For the first week we should advocate a diet of hard- 
boiled eggs chopped into minute particles and mixed with 
stale bread crumbs. The best way of preparing their 
food is to rub the bread between the hands until it is 



50 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

reduced to very fine crumbs arid then stir in the 
chopped egg. Give an exceedingly small quantity. 

After the first week, feed fine cracked corn, and dry 
steam-cooked oat meal. Add whole wheat as soon as 
they will eat it. Give cooked meat, cut very fine, sev- 
eral times a week. Bantams seem to require rather more 
animal diet than other and larger breeds of fowls. 
Small seeds, like millet, are excellent for an occasional 
feed. Hemp seed is also an excellent article to feed 
once in a while, as it is very stimulating. It should be 
used infrequently, as its stimulating properties tend to 
promote too rapid growth and to overheat the blood. 
Boiled rice is excellent as it contains but a small amount 
of bone producing material and tends to keep the chicks 
small. When the chicks are once well started the food 
may be given to them more sparingly to retard their 
growth, but one must not be too niggardly or the chick 
will not be sufficiently nourished to live. 

"War to the death," "no quarter given," should be 
the mottoes in respect to vermin. Be ever on the look- 
out for their appearance, and take precautions to prevent 
them from gaining a foothold. Cleanliness is of great 
importance in preventing their appearance ; and with 
Bantams one can never emphasize too emphatically the 
aphorism, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure." It is a trite saying, but it is true, and we need 
never hesitate to act upon it because it is old. Noth- 
ing better has been discovered and there is no likelihood 
that there ever will be. 

Bantam chicks should be allowed to get at the grass, 
when the dew is off, in order to help themselves to green 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. Cj 

food. If this is impossible or inconvenient, then green 
food in some form should be supplied. A sod given 
daily, or fine cut tender blades of grass, finely chopped 
cabbage, the leaves of turnips, or some similar substance, 
make an excellent substitute for a grass run. 

Water — fresh, pure, cool water — in drinking foun- 
tains or in shallow dishes, frequently renewed, should be 
always kept before them. 

For mothers, we prefer the brooding wings of the 
Bantam hen, but other light varieties, like the Game or 
some common dunghill fowls, may be brought into requi- 
sition to perform this service. Bantams may be raised 
successfully under the largest varieties of fowls, but the 
best success is usually attained by selecting small -active 
hens. 

THE ECONOMIC QUALITIES. 

Can Bantams be raised at a profit when their eggs 
are consumed in the family and their bodies served upon 
the table? This is a question often asked and never 
satisfactorily answered. We do not know, for we have 
never kept a debit and credit account with our Bantams, 
but we believe that a decided, affirmative answer can be 
given. We base our conclusion upon the following facts : 

I St. Bantams are small eaters. A little grain goes a 
long way with them. The grain box "spends well," as 
the farmers say of their hay. The cost of keeping them 
is a very inconsiderable item. 

2d. They are tolerably fair layers. They will lay» 
not so many eggs, perhaps, as the Leghorns and Ham- 
burgs, but in the course of the year they will produce 
quite a large number. The eggs are large in propor- 



52 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

tion to the size of the fowl, and are especially rich in 
yolk. The yolk of a Bantam's egg, in proportion to the 
white, is larger than in most of the breeds of fowls. 
This makes them especially valuable for culinary purposes. 

3d. They are quick growers. Their bodies are small, 
it is true, but it doesn't take many months for them to 
grow, and but little feed for them to develop upon. We 
believe that a pound of Bantam flesh can be produced 
-quite as cheaply as can be a pound of flesh upon any other 
ilowl. It is not the number of pounds that a fowl will 
;grow to, but what it costs per pound to make the meat, 
that must settle the question of profit or loss in raising 
table poultry. 

4th. They are excellent for the table. Their little 
bodies are round and plump, and the breast is especially 
well developed. Whoever saw a narrow-breasted Bantam, 
unless in the Game class, and even then the breast is as' 
plump or plumper than in the larger Game fowl ! The 
round and prominent breast is one of the marked char- 
acteristics of the Bantam, a characteristic that every person 
has noted and every writer commented upon, recognized 
by breeders and observers universally and specifically 
required in the Standard of Excellence. 

These considerations, outside of every question of 
pleasure, lead us to believe that there is money in rais- 
ing Bantams for family use, and to give as our opinion 
an affirmative answer to the universal American question, 
"Will it pay?" 

Another phase of the economic question was, some 
forty years ago, thus stated by a practical and profes- 
sional jcorrespondent of the Gardener s Chronicle. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 53 

" Having caught a hundred wood-lice, they were pre- 
s.ented to three Bantams, which devoured them in about 
two minutes. Seeing how serviceable they were likely to 
be in this way, he had them in attendance when turning 
a compost ; and neither wood-louse nor any insect escaped 
from their active beaks. In gardens, it may be con- 
cluded, they would save various crops which might other- 
wise be injured." 

The clean-legged varieties might do a little injury by 
scratching, an objection which would lose some of its 
force with the feather-legged varieties, but the benefit they 
would confer would more than compensate for any dam- 
age which might thus arise. 

We are too apt to overlook the indirect, but none the 
less real benefits, that fowls confer. It is not strange that 
this should be so. They escape the attention of the 
careless observer, and most observers belong to that class, 
and even the most careful cannot tell just how great 
they are. He knows that his plums and his pears are 
free from worms ; that his trees bear well, while his 
neighbor, who does not keep fowls, has a scanty yield 
of unsightly fruit ; and yet he cannot say that this is wholly 
due to his fowls, for it may not be, nor can he tell just 
what their share has been in producing this favorable 
result. He may be satisfied that much is due to them, 
but is unable to give them credit on his books, be- 
cause the amount cannot be determined. He continues, 
"however, to keep fowls, because he knows that they pay, 
both directly and indirectly. 

PREPARING BANTAMS FOR EXHIBITION. 

Nearly every poultry society, in its rules and regu- 



54 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 



lations,. has a requirement like the following: "All live 
specimens must be exhibited in their natural condition, 
Games and Game Bantams being an exception so far as 
to render the ordinary dubbing and trimming admissible,'* 

The exhibitor of Game Bantams is therefore expected 
to dub his cockerels, which consists in cutting away the 
comb, ear-lobes and wattles. The operation is a com- 
paratively simple one and can be best performed by 
having an assistant to hold the bird firmly. Then seize 
the comb and with a pair of scissors cut it away from 
beak to back. Next remove the wattles, and finally the 
ear-lobes. Scissors are preferable to a knife as by their 
compressing power less blood flows. The operation is not 
very cruel and the fowl quickly recovers from its effects. 
It is best performed when the chick is about four or 
four and a half months old, and should be done at least 
six weeks before exhibiting in order that the wounds 
may be perfectly healed. 

Whether Game Bantams ought to be dubbed or not 
is an open question. Dubbing insures the males against 
the attacks of Jack Frost, and, in the eyes of many^ 
adds to their beauty. That it does add to their beauty 
may be well doubted, however, because our tastes depend 
not a little upon our habits, and, it we were accustomed 
to see undubbed Game Bantams, bred with a small 
evenly serrated comb, we should probably think the comb 
was as great an ornament upon them as it is upon all 
other varieties of fowls. By requiring Game Bantams to 
be dubbed, the Standard removes one of the properties 
to be bred for, and, to this extent, robs the genuine 
fancier of an opportunity to exercise his skill in mating. 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 55 

The more properties a fowl possesses, the greater the 
triumph in producing a perfect specimen, and, therefore, 
the greater the stimulus to a thorough fancier. Bantam 
"breeding is the farthest removed of all kinds of fowl 
breeding from purely utilitarian considerations, and makes 
its strongest appeal to what is denominated in common 
parlance, the fancy; and in it, if anywhere, a high 
standard and the accumulation of properties, or points to 
1)6 produced, can be defended. The requirement of a 
perfect comb would be one more property, now removed 
by the practice of dubbing. If it were restored, by re- 
quiring Game Bantams to be shown in their natural con- 
dition, fanciers would have 'scored a point in their 
favor. Will it be done ? Time will tell. There is now 
.a growing sentiment in its favor, which we expect to see 
much stronger in a few years. We will make no pre- 
dictions, but we shall be neither surprised nor grieved to 
find a few years hence Game Bantams shown undubbed. 
All other varieties of Bantams must be shown in their 
Tiatural condition, but this does not prevent, but on the 
•other hand requires, that certain special preparations 
should be made. No fowl is really - coming down to 
the strictest meaning of the word-in its natural con- 
dition when its legs are covered with filth and its plu- 
mage soiled by contact with foreign objects. 

Bantams should be prepared by such a system of 
feeding as will put them into the highest condition of 
health No better rule can be given than to prepare 
a pen for the exhibition birds, about five or six weeks 
before showing, fhe floor of which is clean sand to the 
depth of two or three inches. Into this house, divided 



56 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

into as many apartments as necessary, so that the cocks 
and hens may be kept separate, the birds destined for 
the exhibition are placed. Here they are to be fed upon 
a variety of food, and so fed that they will be strong 
and healthy, well filled out, but not carry a grain of 
superfluous flesh. Foods that are of a non-fattening charac- 
ter, like barley and oats, should form the staple of their 
diet, but a sufficient variety should be given them to 
keep them in health. A Bantam out of health loses the 
brilliancy of plumage which counts for much in the 
awarding of prizes. A few sunflower seeds and a little 
hemp seed may be given to increase the beauty of the 
plumage. 

The day before shipping, the birds, if white, should 
be washed to remove any stains from their plumage. To 
one who tries it for the first time the difference between, 
the bird before washing and after will be a great sur- 
prise. He never dreamed of the change that it would 
make. After washing the bird should be carefully dried 
so as to take no cold. 

The ear-lobes may be brightened up by bathing them in 
whiskey or alcohol and water in equal parts. The face 
also should be sponged off with the same preparation. 

The feet and shanks of all varieties should be care- 
fully sponged off and wiped dry with a cloth. If just 
the suggestion of oil has touched the cloth it will do no 
harm, but too much oil will cause dust to cling to the 
legs and be a detriment rather than an advantage. 

Those varieties which have feathered shanks and toes 
require that this feathering should be carefully cleaned. 

These operations take some time, but they pay because 



THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 57 

they help to win the prizes; and the object of the ex- 
hibitor is to win the prizes. This does not mean that 
he is sordid and wishes the money ; far from it — the 
honor of winning, the sweet success of beating all com- 
petitors by fair and honorable means — this it is which 
he desires, this is the crown he covets. For this he 
has mated his birds, bred his chicks, and prepared them 
for exhibition, and for this he has honorably contended, 
and this is the compensation which repays him for all 
his labors. 

BANTAMS FOR THE BOYS. 

" What shall we do with our boys ?" is a question 
that the anxious heads of families often ask. The city 
and the country have each their special perils, and how to 
avoid them and bring up the boys to a pure and noble 
manhood are matters worthy of serious considerations. 
One thing to aid in this work, one factor which must 
never be lost sight of, is the keeping the minds of the 
boys interested in some harmless occupation. Their 
minds are active and will be employed either upon inno- 
cent or harmful matters. There is nothing that a boy 
likes better than something that is alive. Toys interest 
for a while, but they cannot take the place of living 
creatures. A father never did a wiser thing than when 
he made a present of a pair of Bantams to his boy for 
"his very own." 

The care of them, and the study of their ways, keep 
the mind employed, teach habits of industry, and lay the 
foundation of success in after years. The boy is at 
home, out of mischief, and engaged in what will lead 
him to better things. Home is made attractive, and the 



58 THE BOOK OF THE BANTAMS. 

lures that beckon others to destruction are powerless 
over him. The years go by and manhood comes, and, 
with it, the labors and the struggles of business life. 
The mind of the boy, unsullied and unspotted by cor- 
rupting influences, is the better able to view the "tricks 
of trade " in their true light, and has the self-respect to 
hold himself above the petty meannesses that too often 
disgrace maturer life. And when, in the fullness of time, 
he has boys of his own, he doesn't forget the innocent 
pleasure and the real service that the Bantams, which 
his father presented to him, afforded him in his boyhood 
days, and continues the good work by, in turn, giving to 
his own boy a pair of these engaging fowls. 

And here we cannot refrain from producing the fol- 
lowing extract from a private letter received just as these 
sheets were passing through the press : 

" Oh ! that first pair of Bantams ! Even now, as I 
write these words, there comes back to me over the path 
of time, something of the pleasure that my first pair of 
Bantams produced. How well I remember them — the 
little black hen, trim and dainty, and the black-breasted, 
red-hackled cock, as full of pomposity as the most fin- 
ished productions of to-day ! They were called Dandies 
then. To-day they would be, perhaps, poor specimens 
of the Brown Red Game. Perhaps they were culls — I 
cannot say — but I know they were beautiful to my boy- 
ish eyes and have left a fragrant memory that the world 
cannot buy, and which I would not exchange for many 
of the ' gilded baubles ' for which men wear out thei 
lives in anxious striving." ^^^^^^^ ^^ CONGRESS 

002 841 003 7 # 



UBRARV OF CONGRESS 

11111 



Hollinsrer Coro. 



